tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post7646492671059129182..comments2024-01-26T17:20:23.015-06:00Comments on The Great Change: Readying the mindAlbert Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627996921976501534noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-50547318951322139742018-08-10T11:46:26.323-05:002018-08-10T11:46:26.323-05:00Minority Rule
I think we can pretty confidently p...Minority Rule<br /><br />I think we can pretty confidently predict that no majority of the citizens in the world, or the US, are going to be persuaded by climate models to adopt a legal framework which limits carbon emissions to what is required to stop climate change (or even limit its effects to ‘acceptable’).<br /><br /> I suggest that anyone thinking strategically needs to read, thoughtfully, the chapter The Most Intolerant Wins: the Dominance of the Stubborn Minority in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book Skin In The Game. Taleb shows how most drinks in the US are certified kosher, although far less than 1 percent of Americans follow kosher dietary prescriptions. How most of the meat sold in solidly Christian countries is now halal (Islamic Law), and how Islam came to dominate other religions in the near and middle East.<br /><br />Briefly, if you are planning a holiday barbecue, and there may be strict kosher observers in the group, you will buy kosher drinks and not serve ham sandwiches. Not only do you avoid giving offense, you also simplify your preparations by keeping everything uniform.<br /><br />Taleb points to the avoidance of GMO foods by many grocery stores as due to the same effect: some people are just not going to pollute themselves with GMO, so the simplest thing to do is not sell GMO.<br /><br />And so, I suggest, that building a strategy for climate change should begin from the standpoint that a minority is going to have to force behavioral change on a majority which is relatively unconcerned. But the minority needs to avoid any hint of the ‘barrel of the gun’ approach…else there will be a volatile backlash.<br /><br />Some of the models:<br />*Communism: the barrel of a gun<br />*Separation of the chosen: eco villages; religious minorities; racial minorities<br />*Strict rules of behavior by a significant minority of people<br /><br />I assume nobody thinks that the barrel of a gun strategy is likely to work. And separation does not really insulate the chosen few from the ravages of climate change. Which leaves us with the adoption of strict rules of behavior. The rules could allow for ‘sects’…e.g., some sects might insist on agrarian lifestyles, while others make rules for urban behavior.<br /><br />Here, just as examples, are some rules:<br />*Live in a dwelling with 144 square feet of heated space per person (see Twelve by Twelve by William Powers)<br />*Eat only food grown using the principles developed by David Johnson<br />*Offset all fossil fueled transportation by planting trees<br />*Disinherit any children, or grandchildren, who have 3 or more natural born offspring.<br />*Support radical libertarianism at the federal level, to insure ‘skin in the game’…no free lunch...risk comes home to roost<br /><br />Could a loose federation of strict observers of an inflexible set of rules change the world?<br /><br />Don StewartDon Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05449201744675390686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-11997749910473593972018-08-05T19:15:04.989-05:002018-08-05T19:15:04.989-05:00The neocortex is designed to seek a balance betwee...The neocortex is designed to seek a balance between competing priorities. But if we perceive that a suggested course of action is simply so inconsistent with our current framework of behavior as to be impractical, then we are highly likely to NOT adopt the suggestion.<br /><br />Here is David Johnson suggesting a course of action which is a relatively small deviation from what we are doing in agriculture. But the results are hugely different.<br />http://www.regenerationinternational.org/bioreactor/<br /><br />IMHO Johnson has found a key activity which can change our trajectory in very favorable ways in lots of different dimensions. If we can achieve a few decades of negative carbon in the atmosphere, we can probably rely on physical depletion and thermodynamic decay to finish the job. We may also have the satisfaction of bankrupting some very bad corporations.<br /><br />Don StewartDon Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05449201744675390686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-88845184223475277292018-08-05T14:15:05.587-05:002018-08-05T14:15:05.587-05:00The good news is, we do have ways to reprogram our...The good news is, we do have ways to reprogram ourselves at a very deep level. The question remains, however: will enough of us do so, and do it quickly enough?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-2391902339063487892018-08-05T11:03:26.049-05:002018-08-05T11:03:26.049-05:00I recently attended a house concert (my wife is a ...I recently attended a house concert (my wife is a pianist and she has a trio) in which all the attendees are reasonably well off.I remember thinking how easy it is to feel "this is how life should be...always". Then the world caught fire and the large ice cubes are continuing to melt and many are still looking away hoping not to notice or hoping it will go away. I find myself anxious because awareness seems to be eluding the vast majority and I can only continue to act otherwise.Danny Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239701610522812113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-20959042362683011052018-08-05T10:16:29.279-05:002018-08-05T10:16:29.279-05:00https://un-denial.com/2018/04/01/by-steven-spencer...https://un-denial.com/2018/04/01/by-steven-spencer-interview-with-richard-nolthenius/<br />says Richard: <br />- our dilemma being to LOWER Civilization’s total energy consumption • We need to actually cripple civilization’s ability to grow, or else voluntarily halt that growth by policy action or (impossibly hard) universal and continually summoned (biological energy intensive!) human will power against our desires. • In a competitive world, this would seem extremely unlikely <br />- CO2 emissions can only be reduced in a rapid ( i.e. meaningful) way by elimination of GLOBAL economic growth (but then, how to finance the massive transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure?) • This is ... The Great Catch 22<br />- The Conclusion is Inescapable: Economic Growth is the Enemy of Climate. We CANNOT Transition to Renewables FAST ENOUGH to Save Future Climate, and Civilization<br />- What is first required is a deep transformation of the global psyche, a radical, pervasive personal growth which is strong enough to overcome the envy of others’ riches, of material wealth as the measure of virtue, instead embracing the value of unspoiled Nature, and seeing other species as fellow travelers on this planet and not fodder for our advantage. • The possibility of such a transformation of humanity before Nolthenius’ First Law takes full effect, appears very remote as I write this. Resistance to learning is even stronger than I had once thought. <br />Now watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1_dsU1Dx0AIan Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975374352244687491noreply@blogger.com